Wouldn’t it be great if tragedies could be undone with a flourish of a sheepskin hide? The death of a loved one. £10,000 blown on internet poker. Haze. This is the concept that classic Greek myth ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ presents, and one which Liquid Entertainment has adapted for Rise of the Argonauts. Rise of the Argonauts is an action-RPG loosely based on the legend of Jason – and by loosely based we mean it features Jason and a fleece. Beyond a few additional characters and locations, Rise of the Argonauts draws on a multitude of Greek tales to weave a rich and complex narrative which, like God of War before it, serves as a ‘best of the genre’ piece. Or at least it tries to.

Following on from their classic Desperate Housewives: THE GAME, Liquid Entertainment has attempted an ambitious project with a structure eerily reminiscent of that of BioWare’s output. Branching dialogue trees – check. Equipment upgrades – check. Arena fighting quest – check. The game comes across as if it’s been constructed with a Western RPG-By-Numbers kit. Familiarity is no bad thing, but when the sum of Rise of the Argonauts’ parts rarely ever come close to its predecessors, we have a problem.

The game hurls you into the action as Jason’s betrothed is slain by an assassin. The palace erupts into chaos as the player takes control, and immediately the game’s shortcomings can be seen. The camera lurches somewhere around Jason’s midsection, angled as if trying to get the best male upskirt shot it can muster as Jason stumbles into scenery and invisible walls, catching his sandals on every bit of debris in his path. Beside him lumbers a giant of a man who, it transpires, is Hercules but whom the player would be forgiven for assuming to be a very pink Incredible Hulk. Almost instantly a fight breaks out and the player is forced to learn two attacks which boil down to ‘hit hard’ and ‘hit harder’ no matter the weapon. There are also defensive manoeuvres such as blocking, shoving and dodging, the latter serving only to catapult you into the best position to be attacked. Upon killing an enemy (achieved by pressing ‘hit harder’ a few times for most adversaries), Jason performs a graceful slow motion fatality attack… which is repeated with every kill. For the entire game.

The first hour of Rise of the Argonauts is a very disorienting experience. The clumsy controls, voyeuristic camera and horrible collision detection create a sense that rather than guiding Jason, the player is struggling against him. Once off the starting island, the areas become more open which allows for greater freedom of movement, but the clipping issues in particular remain a problem throughout. Visually and technically the areas fluctuate between ‘fairly decent’ and ‘fairly poor’, nothing really standing out either way. The more impressive-looking levels are coupled with higher amounts of technical problems, marring what should have been the best sections in the game.

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